Chapter 67 #2
My phone vibrates in my pocket, but I already know it’s the girls.
Nikita has been relentless in the group chat, demanding to be kept up to date with today’s events.
I don’t dare send anything through, for fear that someone might look over my shoulder and see what we’re talking about.
Or more to the point… who we’re discussing.
Thankfully, my brother came through as one of the first batch of players to have their interviews filmed.
Both Captain and Vice-Captain were in and out quickly at the very start, and other than us having a quick chat where Finch seemed particularly distracted the entire time, he vanished in a blink.
I barely got an affectionate big brother shoulder bump and heard him mutter something about needing to see one of the PTs.
I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He didn’t want to stick around and be the overbearing sibling watching my every move today? I’ll take that as a win.
Sarah joins me, interrupting my little private viewing party.
“If you don’t end up with every single one of these doggies finding their forever homes by the weekend, I’ll fall over from shock.
” She chuckles wryly while scrolling through some of the recent footage on her phone.
“Would you look at the way those puppies are crawling over Renfro? How much do you wanna bet there’ll be an entire demographic of supporters discovering their sexuality is actually Scottish rugby player cuddling cute dogs. ”
My cheeks heat. She’s not wrong. Connor is all movie-star good looks, with the exact kind of disarming smirk I remember from that day at the Acorn. I swallow, mouth gone dry at the memory of being sideswiped by the playful quirk of his lips when we first ran into each other.
“You do realize after these are posted, there’s every chance the Wolves are never going to have an empty seat at a game ever again?
Hot rugby players and dogs are a special type of catnip for the internet…
wait, no… is dognip a thing? Whatever the canine version is, that’s what we’ve got on our hands here. ”
Normally, hearing someone talk so openly about the attractiveness of my Alphas, might have me ready to claw eyes out.
But where Sarah is concerned, I know her eyes are truly only on the extremely beautiful woman holding the camera.
There’s no disguising the way the two of them keep exchanging heated looks at every opportunity.
“… not to mention, Palamo. Those cheekbones are lethal on a good day. Add in an adorable hound, and that’s all she wrote.”
As I take in the sight of Theo crouching beside two of the older dogs in need of a new home, Connor with three puppies scrambling all over his massive chest, and Atlas quietly murmuring to one of the quieter dogs, a long exhale escapes me. “This is not helping my urge to adopt,” I mumble.
Sarah scoffs. “Girl… I don’t know how you do it with all of them. Keeping boundaries in place must be impossible.”
Wait? What?
That has me choking. My eyes jump wide. My gut immediately falls through the floor as I leap straight to imagining the worst. Has she somehow seen, or heard something?
“Wh—what do you mean?”
“If it were me? I would totally struggle to remain purely a volunteer at a place like that.” She winks and turns back to holding up her phone to record more footage; meanwhile, panic swirls in my extremities.
“It must be so hard. Just look at their happy faces! Those soft eyes are gonna melt your heart at every opportunity, right? All I’d wanna do is keep bringing more and more home. ”
Oh.
Ohhhh.
Okay, I can breathe. She means the pups. Not the Alphas.
“Yeah… totally.” I nod, puffing out my cheeks, while silently encouraging my heart rate to climb back down from where it’s currently skittering around like a squirrel on acid up on the roof.
“It’s a hazard, that’s for sure. They don’t lovingly call them foster fails for nothing.
” Despite giving my best attempt at a joke and a smile, it feels somewhat weak in the face of her questions poking a little too close to the truth.
Luckily for me, the photographer who Sarah has been stealing glances at this whole time waves her back over, and I can busy myself in the background.
It gives me an opportunity to make sure everything is all set for transporting the last of the dogs safely back to Wagging Tails.
Linda has been in her element, running volunteer pick-ups and drop-offs with precision, so that we could get every dog currently in need of a home featured.
Connor’s laughter bounces off the walls of the locker room as he ends up sprawled flat on his back, buried beneath a pile of wriggling, overjoyed canines. Atlas and Theo do absolutely nothing to help him, sitting back on their heels to watch him get taken down by paw power.
I content myself with watching from the sidelines, but I’m purposefully dragging my heels, waiting until everyone else has departed. While it’s a risk, I know I want to be the last one here. And just as I hoped, a text comes in, making my pulse flutter.
Big guy:
Stay behind, Bambi.
Make sure nobody sees you.
Your Alphas have something very, very important to discuss with you.
My thighs squeeze together, heat pooling low as I see a photo come through.
All it shows is his hand, with that strong network of veins that I find so unbelievably sexy, and he’s cupping himself through his black boxer briefs.
No one would be able to tell it’s him, and maybe that’s what drives me wild about Connor the most in moments like this.
He’s all mine, and I certainly can’t wait to show him how much of a good boy he’s been today.